I knew a gentleman a few years back who was a 'name dropper.' This is a phrase that is not used as much as it used to be, so you may be a bit unclear as to what it means. A name dropper is someone who talks endlessly about the people they know. Now, someone who served in the Secret Service might talk of presidents and leaders that they had the privilege of protecting. This would be expected since they had actually met these people and had known them. Yet, these types of people really don't talk of the ones they have known all that much. But a name dropper will talk of people as though they actually know them well, even though they only had a chance meeting.

My name dropper was a new minister in our town. My usual response to a new minister was to take him out to lunch. If he was someone who had been in the ministry for a while, I wanted to pick his brain. If he was new to the ministry, I wanted to encourage him. This fellow was in his mid-fifties but had spent his working career in business as an accountant. His career change to ministry came late. Going from a business background to the ministry was a huge step. The two are often assumed to be very much alike, but the reality is that they are completely different. One of my goals in this first lunch was to help him bridge the gap between the two worlds.

We had made our orders and had just gotten our salads when he casually mentioned that he knew Muhammad Ali. This was so out of the blue that it took me off guard and I asked him how he knew Ali. He said he had met him the first time at a fund raiser in Cleveland. Then he went on talking about other people he knew and things he had done. In subsequent conversations, it was disclosed that this man knew many people, from Ali to Trump to the manager of the Cleveland Indians, Terry Francona. He knew them so well that he called them by their first names or by their nicknames. For instance, he referred to Trump as Don and Terry Francona as Tito. And he always referred to these people as 'the salt of the earth' and he would assure anyone who was listening that when you really got to know these people you found out they were regular folks.

After that first meeting I came away feeling that he was so unsure of himself that he created this little world to show others how well connected he was to the important people. This is not an unusual trait amongst businessmen. Some of them do know the movers and shakers in business, but when someone starts talking about famous people from all walks of life, they are usually insecure.

People began to ignore him. No one really believed him when he talked like that, but I tended to overlook all of it. He was still in business mode and this was his way of making a temporary connection that was needed in business to close a deal. Ministry, of course, is about long term connections. Because of this habit, people became distant from him. I tried to talk to him about it, but he would switch to something else.

Marsha knew about all of this and she knew how I felt. This pastor was nearing retirement and was then going to move to Arizona. We were going to go to one last lunch. Marsha put a thought to me that morning. What if he really did do all those things and what if he really did know all those people? Actually, I had never considered that. I had made a judgement at that first lunch and never wavered from it. This was something I always tried to avoid, but in this case, I had made a steadfast decision. What if I was wrong? Whoa! I would owe him an apology!

At this last lunch together, I asked him how he had come to know Ali. He laughed and said that it was a funny story. Back in the early 1980s, Ali was going to have an exhibition fight in Cleveland against a popular local fighter. The purpose was to raise money for a hospital that mostly served the black community. The news conference announcing this fight would be at the hospital. Our hero was the accountant at the hospital. Even though the hospital served mostly African-Americans, this retiring pastor was of a Swedish background. When you say someone is white, that actually includes a lot of variation of colors. But Swedes are WHITE. Apparently, Ali had just stepped up to the microphone during this news conference, when our Swede entered the room right where Ali was standing. Our Swede had no idea this was going on and he was taking a short cut. His hands were full of papers as he was going from one office to another. So, here was a snow-white man in a room filled with black men and women, including Ali. The story was Ali's eyes grew large and he took on that comic menacing face he used sometimes. No words were exchanged and our Swede ducked out in embarrassment. That was it. No other meetings. We had a good laugh. And I then knew my original judgement was correct.

Name dropping of famous people makes you look silly. However, there is one name you can pass along happily. The name is Jesus. If you are a believer, you do know Him. His name may draw ridicule, but it is the Name above all names, the only Name that can change lives. However, if you use that Name, make sure your actions do not bring Him embarrassment.

Be the best name dropper this week and pass the name of Jesus along.